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Author's Note: alot happens in this chapter so there is alot of exposition.

I don't own Veronica Mars.

"Is Veronica Mars here?"

Dick

Ok, so that was weird.

Ok, so the entire week had been weird and it just kept getting weirder.

First Duncan came back, then I find out that Meg's alive and everybody knew but me, then Madison gets killed, Veronica gets kidnapped and I end up being the one to find her, all while working with people I would never have expected to work with like, well, ever.

And then, there I was, standing in my boxers with my girlfriend next to me in my t shirt and there was a hot blond standing in the doorway holding Meg's daughter Lilly.

So either Mac had decided to spice up our already spicy sex life with a hooker that just happened to deliver toddlers as well….Or we just got really lucky.

I decided to go with lucky.

And I assumed that Mac was thinking the same thing because she didn't look like she understood what was going on either.

Apparently neither of us knew this person, but this person obviously knew Ronnie.

I was really getting tired of being out of the loop.

Mac

Ok, so I know exactly what Dick was thinking when he opened the door.

And no, I did not decide to spice up our sex life.

No, we just got lucky.

But what I didn't get was who this person was, why they had Lilly and how they knew V.

So when I finally answered her question the only thing I could think of to say was.

"Yeah, I'll go get her."

I turned around as Dick invited her in and I went to Logan's bedroom to get V.

Logan

People really need to learn to knock.

That was what I was thinking when Mac just burst through the door that morning.

I was lying in bed with a very naked Veronica on top of me and believe me when I say that Mac could not have had worse timing.

She just walked in and yelled 'oh my god!'

From the shock I'm assuming, or she could have been repeating Ronnie's words from 2 seconds before she walked in, but no…..I'm sure it was shock.

And then she turned around said there was someone there to see Veronica and walked out of the room closing the door behind her.

That was the moment I decided to put a lock on the door.

Veronica

Yeah, so embarrassed is an understatement.

But on the bright side it could have been worse, it could have been Wallace that walked in, or even Dick and that would really not have been good.

After Mac walked out the door, I went to get off of Logan but he held me in place and smiled. "They can wait."

And believe me I agreed.

When we were done he helped me put some clothes on, carried me out to the living room and when I saw who was sitting on the couch my jaw dropped.

It had been a long time since I'd seen her and when I saw Lilly with her I felt really stupid, I couldn't believe that I hadn't thought of her. Of course Duncan left Lilly with her, she had helped him before.

Logan walked over and sat us down next to her. Mac could barely look at me and Dick looked confused, but Logan obviously recognized her as well.

"How've you been Astrid?"

Astrid

I'd only met Veronica twice.

The first time was when Celeste had brought me over to The Grand to do Duncan's laundry and she'd taken refugee in the bedroom while Celeste was in the living room with Duncan.

The second time was when I helped Duncan get Lilly out of the country.

I hadn't seen her since, but I'd stayed on staff with the Kane's until they separated.

I had gone to work for the Kane's shortly after Duncan's sister Lilly had died so I had met Logan on a few occasions.

I was actually a little surprised at their surprise, I had really thought they would have figured out that I had Lilly by then. But it didn't really matter, I was just there to return Lilly.

When Vinnie had called and said that Leo was back and they had found Veronica I decided to give her a little time to recover before I handed the little blond toddler over to her. Leo didn't know that Vinnie had been watching him, but that was how I found out about Veronica's abduction.

Vinnie didn't trust Veronica, so when Leo called the border control, Vinnie started to pay attention. He figured she was up to no good, as usual he was wrong, but that's beside the point. I'd kept in touch with Vinnie since he had helped Duncan. Well actually, he had kept in touch with me and what I mean by that is, he became a borderline stalker. He basically wouldn't leave me alone.

So when he found out that Duncan was in town and he had taken Veronica he'd called me immediately and then he'd called once again to tell me she had been rescued.

I didn't bother to tell him that I had Lilly, that was on a need to know basis, and he just didn't need to know.

So that's how I ended up there, sitting in the middle of the presidential suite with four very surprised looking people and a restless 18 month old.

Veronica

She looked at me and smiled. "I've been good Veronica. I'd ask you the same but I think the answer is obvious, I am glad that you are ok though."

She looked genuine when she said it and that eased my nerves a little. I had liked Astrid the few times I had met her, she'd seemed very sweet and very intelligent, I never understood how she could work for someone like Celeste. But despite all that I was still a little confused as to why she would bring Lilly to me of all people though.

"So why did you bring Lilly here? Why didn't you take her to Celeste?"

It wasn't until I voiced the question that I realized how stupid it was, but she just smiled. "I brought her here because I felt that out of everyone involved you would be the best to take care of her. I know that you will make the right choices when it comes to her."

She was right, I would, but Lilly didn't belong to me, she belonged to Meg and now Leo.

"I really appreciate that Astrid, but I think Lilly's mom would prefer to take custody of her."

"Her mom? I thought Meg was dead?"

"Well yes and no."

"You know what, I don't need to know and I don't want to know. I won't tell anybody what you just told me, but I really just don't want to be involved in this. So just promise me that she will be taken care of, that's all I care about."

I didn't blame her for wanting to stay out of it, I would've if I could've. She handed Lilly to Logan and stood up to leave.

"Thanks Astrid, I appreciate you taking care of her and bringing her to me."

"It wasn't a problem Veronica, I was happy to do it. I'm just glad that I didn't have to return her to Duncan, I wouldn't have anyways, but this just makes it easier."

She turned to walk to the door but I stopped her, I needed to know how she knew I was back and what had happened.

"How did you know about what was going on with Duncan?"

She turned back to me and smiled. "Lets just say that the only friend you have at the police department these days is Leo D'Amato and he needs to quit his job, his boss has been following him. It was good to see you again Veronica, I'd like it if you kept me posted where Lilly is concerned."

"I will, I promise."

When she left the room Logan just looked at me waiting for me to talk, but I didn't get a chance to because Dick beat me to it.

"Who the hell was that? Why did she have Lilly and how do you know her? Spill it Ronnie." I looked over and Mac nodded in agreeance with him, Logan just laughed.

"I will tell you Dick, but first we need to get everybody back here."

Logan

It took an hour for everybody to get there.

Meg and Leo were the last ones to show up and I can honestly say that I've never seen Meg so happy. Watching her with Lilly made me look forward to having a family of my own someday and I couldn't help but picture Veronica with our children. I knew it wouldn't be anytime soon but it would be worth the wait and by the look on her face I couldn't help but wonder if she was thinking the same thing.

I was unbelievably proud of her, she'd been through so much but she was still hanging on. She was still in a lot of pain but he drugs were helping and he had told me that morning that she wanted to go to counseling. I'd told her that I thought it was a good idea and that I'd be behind her the whole way, she already knew that but I just wanted to remind her.

While Meg was getting reacquainted with her daughter, Wallace told the rest of us that he had decided not to go to Africa. Ronnie looked relieved, I knew she had been proud of him for wanting to do some good in the world, but she would have been worried the entire time he was gone. When she asked him why he said that he just didn't want to leave us.

It felt good to know that Wallace and I were finally on good terms. Weevil and I were getting along as well, I knew he'd never be on my side, but as I said before, Ronnie was our common ground and as long as she was around we would tolerate each other.

When Leo and Meg came back into the room Ronnie told them about what Astrid said.

Dick

When Ronnie was done explaining, Leo just sat there for a second before he spoke.

"So she said I should quit?" He asked

"Yeah." Answered Ronnie. "I have to agree, especially considering your relationship with Meg. If Vinnie knew she was alive, it would cause a lot of extra trouble that we and you don't need."

If felt kinda bad for the guy, he just got his job back and he was going to have to quit.

"I agree with you Veronica, but I don't really know what we're gonna do. I was most likely going to quit anyways, but without a job I don't have any income. I guess we..."

Logan stopped him. "Leo I've been helping Meg for the last 18 months and I don't intend to stop, all the money in her account is still hers. You don't have to worry about it."

Leo looked a little shocked, I guess Meg hadn't told him about the account yet. "Thanks Logan, I appreciate that. But you've done so much already and I want to be able to support us."

Mac smacked my leg and I knew it was time for me to speak up. "Um yeah, money isn't really going to be a problem for you anymore Leo…well for any of us actually."

Everyone just turned and looked at me with confused expressions.

It was nice to be the one that actually knew what was going on for once, but apparently I was enjoying the moment too much because Mac smacked my leg again to get me to talk.

"Well when CW asked me to have Mac make transfer the money for Celeste I didn't have her stop there." I smiled, this was going to be fun. "I had her withdraw an extra 100 million and she put it into 10 separate accounts, one for each of us including Lilly. Each one has 10 million in it."

So I have to say that when people underestimate you your entire life sometimes it's hard to prove them wrong. But that seemed to be all I had been doing lately and from the reaction I got to the fact that I had made everyone multi millionaires, I figured that I'd never be underestimated again.

I am Dick Casablancas, sex god and financial genius.

Maybe I'll make business cards.

Keith

I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.

That's what I kept telling myself.

But I wasn't just disappointed, I was worried. On some level I understood why they didn't call me, but Veronica's my baby girl and I should have been allowed to help.

Of course that fact that I heard about it from Vinnie didn't help. Alicia and I'd gotten off the plane and were walking through baggage claim when he practically knocked us over. He told me that Duncan Kane had come back and taken Veronica and then he waited for me to start going ballistic before he told me that Logan and her friends had found her and brought her home. He'd always had a flair for the dramatics.

So Alicia and I went straight to The Grand and when we got to the room we could hear people yelling, excited yelling, but when I started to pound on the door the yelling stopped. It took two minutes for someone to answer and when the door opened, I found myself face to face with Logan Echolls.

"Would you like to explain to me why my daughter was kidnapped and I had to find out from Vinnie Van Lowe?"

I'm not mad, just disappointed.

Dick

So lets see, the list of things on earth I'm afraid of.

Zombies, but remember they don't really count cuz they don't exist...but I guess you could count zombie movies.

Clarence Weidman, yeah I know, you'd think that after the last few days I would've gotten over that. But no, the dude still scares the shit out of me.

Keith Mars, yeah that's a new one. Dude, you do not want to make that man mad, I thought he was gonna kill Logan. Even scarier yet, he kept saying, 'I'm not mad in just disappointed,' while he was yelling. Dude, that's like a death sentence coming from a parent.

But what scares me the most on Earth now has to be, Alicia Fennel.

When she gets going, it doesn't end. She actually pushed Keith Mars out of the way stood in the middle of the room and just yelled at us for not calling them for like 30 minutes. When she was done even CW looked like a four year old who'd had his juice box taken away.

I guess what they say is true.

Mess with the bull and you get the horns.

I just never would have thought that Keith would just be the bull.

Wallace

Dude, my mom was pissed.

So was Keith of course, but man, I thought my mom was gonna ground us all for eternity. Not like she could of but I'm sure it crossed her mind.

The entire time she was yelling, Keith was sitting with V checking her over. He looked sick to his stomach and I couldn't blame him, she looked like she had gone one on one with a 18 wheeler. Logan just sat on the other side of her holding her good hand and listening to my mom yell.

When she was finally done, she just stopped, looked at everyone one at a time and said.

"Apologize." And believe me we did.

That was when Keith finally noticed Meg sitting next to Leo and he looked at her in disbelief.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

And then he looked back at V. "I think you guys have a lot of explaining to do."

This was gonna be interesting. But I was ok with it, anything to prolong me having to tell my mother that I had decided not to got to Africa was fine with me.

I didn't think she'd be mad, I just figured she'd be disappointed.

But I wasn't ready to leave Veronica, or anyone else.

Keith

I couldn't believe what he had done to my baby.

She was covered in bruises, she had a broken arm, broken nose and a few broken ribs. I swore to god that if I ever saw Duncan Kane I'd break him and I could tell by the look on Logan's face he felt the same way.

I will admit that I'd never been Logan Echolls' biggest fan. But in all honesty, I'd never really given him a chance, I'd let my preconceptions alter my thoughts and actions. I was done with that when I walked into the room that day.

They love each other, that's obvious and if he's what makes her happy that's all that will ever matter.

So after they explained the Meg situation and told us everything that happened, we just sat there for a few minutes.

That's when Veronica told me that she was moving out of my house and in with Logan.

I don't think she was expecting the reaction I gave her, because I smiled, stood up and grabbed Alicia's hand.

"Well honey, that's probably a good thing."

She looked at me flabbergasted and Logan was looking at me like he thought he had heard me wrong.

"I guess we have something to tell you."

Veronica

They got married!

Without us!

I couldn't believe they got married and we weren't there!

I looked over at Wallace and I knew he was thinking the same thing. His mom had just spent half an hour yelling at us for not telling them about important issues and they didn't tell us that they were getting married.

The anger only lasted a second though because I realized it was ok. My dad was happy and Alicia was happy and that was all that really mattered.

Plus, this meant he was going to take my engagement news way better than I originally thought.

Logan

While Wallace was telling Alicia that he wasn't going to go to Africa I had a long talk with Keith.

Ronnie was tired so I'd helped her into the bedroom and then went out to the balcony with Keith.

I was happy for the guy, I really was. I Alicia made him half as happy as Veronica made me, then I wished them nothing but the best.

We talked about moving Veronica out of the apartment and where we would be moving to, he even offered to help us house hunt. And I decided to ask his permission to marry Ronnie, even though I'd already asked and she'd said yes, I knew it was the right thing to do, so I just spit it out.

"I asked her to marry me Mr. Mars. She said yes, but I would like your blessing."

I thought he was gonna hit me but he just smiled.

"Ok, oou have my blessing. But try to make it a long engagement, I'm not ready to give her away quite yet."

I didn't think that would be a problem, I knew it would be at least a year. But like I'd said before, I'd wait forever for her.

After everybody left I went into the bedroom, got into bed with Veronica and I pulled her to me with her on her side facing me, she just smiled.

All I had ever wanted was her.

All I had ever needed was her.

And she was finally mine. All mine.

And I was hers. All hers.

And nothing would ever change that.

"I love you Veronica."

"I love you too."

Two weeks later

Duncan

Every morning it's the same thing for him.

He wakes up and he doesn't know where he is.

He doesn't know what time it is or what day.

He doesn't see anybody other that his mother once a day and when he sees her he doesn't speak.

She tries to talk to him but he doesn't answer.

She can't seem to get through.

Because the only thing that he seems to be able to think about is Veronica Mars.

She is his. All his.

And that would never change.

He just needed to get rid of the one person in his way…. Logan Echolls.

And that's exactly what he planned to do.

so what did you think? Review please!

Authors Note: chapter 27 is the last chapter it is an epliogue of sorts. you will find out who gave meg the files, I had to leave a few surprises for the end after all.

i still might do a sequel to this story in the future. this was my first fic and im very proud of it. so i would love to revisit it in the future. But its all gonna depend on if I feel there is enough interest in a sequel, so let me know. It'll be awhile before I write it since im still working on my other fic, but if you want the sequel I will start writing it as soon as im done with 'home is where the heart is.